In the mid-2000s, the price of natural gas in the United States had markedly increased, as it had around the world. For this reason, by the time an order from TAYLOR BRICKS was received, BERALMAR had already supplied several petcoke firing facilities to the US market, in spite of the fact that all the production in this market is of face bricks, i.e. a product with added value and which is therefore more resistant to high energy costs, while being more demanding in terms of its visual appearance.

In this context the order from TAYLOR BRICKS of Salisbury (North Carolina) represented an even greater challenge, given the wide colour range of its catalogue of formats, which ranged from black to white. Firing white face bricks with petcoke was unthinkable up to that point.

Wide range of colours for TAYLOR products

Execution of the project

The proposed solution was a MICROMATIC system to inject a variable percentage of petcoke into the kiln, depending on the format being fired: white and light formats would be cooked with a maximum of 30% petcoke (the rest with natural gas), using up to 50% for the darker formats. To facilitate and automate the variability of this percentage, injectors adapted to alternate the injection of petcoke and natural gas were supplied.

Conclusions

Both the initial tests and the final start-up were a success, and showed that the impact of petcoke on the visual aspect of bricks always depends on the percentage of injected coke, and that it is almost imperceptible when it is less than 50%. The energy savings can be very significant even in gas replacement ratios of this range, as was the case with TAYLOR BRICKS.

Years later, after the fracking boom in the United States, gas became much cheaper and all the kilns in the country returned to using this fuel. However, in 2007, when this application for TAYLOR BRICKS was commissioned, it provided a response to an urgent need to cut energy spending for a difficult format and it was ultimately a huge success.

The next case study will be published in Newsletter no. 122 in January 2018.

News and Accomplishments
BERALMAR AUTOMATION: THE TIME FOR UPDATING PRODUCTION LINES HAS ARRIVED

After nearly a decade of crisis in the construction sector in many parts of the world, the real estate market is once again booming and consequently the demand for ceramic material has increased. As a result, many production lines that have been inactive over the last few years are producing once more. However, some technical requirements have changed due to the type of formats currently in demand, the type of packaging required, etc. which leads us to the conclusion that new needs have arisen in the area of automation and that the time has come to address them.

It is therefore a good time to remind all our friends and customers of the capabilities of BERALMAR in the area of automation.

BERALMAR created its own Automation Department in 2009, to design and manufacture of all types of automation for the ceramics industry: cutting, cutting with bevelling, loading and unloading of dryers, stacking and destacking of kiln cars, packaging lines, smart warehouses, etc., all using robots or conventional systems. And despite the fact that this department has been operating for less than 10 years, its experience goes back much further because BERALMAR created the Automation Department in 2009 by incorporating a dozen professionals connected to the extinct Agemac-Tecnoseveco and led by Cayetano Giménez, the former director of its technical office.

BERALMAR’s Automation Department

With the incorporation of this team, BERALMAR acquired a technology that has allowed it in the last few years to supply some 20 complete plants with their own automation in Russia, Algeria, Malaysia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and elsewhere.

BERALMAR’s automations are characterized by their robustness and reliability. We believe that the concept of low cost is an error especially when applied to mechanisms.

After a year of operation since its founding in October 2016, BERALMAR INDIA has already supplied several groups of burners in this Asian country. This year it even completed its first project, which is great news.

This first project was carried out in the DIAMOND BRICKS ceramics plant in Palani (Tamil Nadu), in southern India.

DIAMOND BRICKS had a tunnel kiln with significant design deficiencies that provided such an unsatisfactory firing quality that it caused production to stop 3 years ago. One of the big problems was the previous combustion equipment, consisting of a coal gasifier that suffered many maintenance issues.

The objectives of the BERALMAR INDIA project for DIAMOND BRICKS consisted of reaching a production of 25,000 bricks per day (about 85 tonnes/day) and increasing the quality of the product. To meet this challenge, the combustion system was changed, opting for the installation of 6 AGNI injection groups of micronized mineral coal along with changes to the rest of the kiln regarding ventilation circuits, the pit, new hot air recovery for the pre-kiln, etc.

With this new configuration of the kiln and after starting up the equipment and regulating the production under the supervision of Beralmar - Terrassa, the following objectives have been achieved:

The pre-kiln has managed to dry the material well, with 8% humidity when the cars enter after a first natural drying phase.

The production has stabilized at 30,000 bricks/day (about 100 tonnes/day), over and above the customer’s expectations.

The quality has improved radically, which in addition to minimizing the percentage of by-product has enabled an increase in selling price due to the firing quality and the colour obtained.

We appreciate the confidence placed by DIAMOND BRICKS in BERALMAR INDIA. As we said, it is a modest project but of great importance.

Location of Palani, in southern India

Example of the low firing quality prior to the involvement of BERALMAR INDIA

A picture for the history books.

Greatly improved quality in the first cars after starting up the kiln.